No country can dictate to Nigeria – Mark

ABUJA – Senate President, David Mark, said yesterday that no country in the world would dictate to Nigeria the brand of democratic system to operate, just as he affirmed that the current electoral system in the country does not fall short of global standards.

His comment came as national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is poised for a war with the government of the United States of America as it yesterday took a swipe at the US Secretary of State, Mrs Hillary Clinton, describing her comments on Nigeria as out of point and one who is not abreast with what obtained in the country.

Mark, who spoke in an interview at the Presidential Wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, said some of the issues raised by the US Secretary of States amounted to misinforming Nigerians on efforts by the government to correct abnormalities in the country’s democratic system.

He said: â€œThe country is ours, we will decide what form of democracy we want. And I think she was very clear on that, that every country will decide the form of democracy; we will decide for ourselves what we want as a democratic system.

â€œWhat is the problem with the electoral system?Â I have read the Electoral Act. What is the problem with it?Â Â People just criticise because they want to do so. Nothing in the Electoral Act allows you to snatch the ballot box, and run away with it.

â€œRather than face the real issue of functionally educating the people, we keep beating about the bush.Â Nothing is wrong with the Electoral Act. All the acts that people complain about today are not encouraged; they are not encouraged in the Electoral Act.

â€œI heard the United States Secretary of States, Mrs Hilary Clinton, saying that in Nigeria people are not registered to vote. Is that correct? That is the height of misinformation, and that is the sort of things we get ourselves into when we do not educate those who come publicly to run us down.